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Yesterday in an interview in the Evening Standard he noted: “I’ve had a tough two years from the press. I’m not complaining because basically at the end of the day the people will make up their mind. A number of newspapers are trying to run the election, they are trying to dictate the election. I think they have made a mistake.”

In one sense Brown has a right to feel hard done by. In terms of standing up for the interests of journalists, he has had a pretty good record as Prime Minister.

In April 2007, then prime minister-in-waiting Brown personally sanctioned a move to shelve proposals which would have drastically watered down the Freedom of Information Act. Press Gazette had launched a high profile campaign against changes which would have allowed government departments to reject out of hand FoI requests which cost more than £600 to answer. It would have neutered an Act which has been the single biggest advancement in UK press freedom for a generation.